


55. Spirit

by starlies



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: 100 Themes Challenge, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Gen, background chrobin (again), grima!robin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:53:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlies/pseuds/starlies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two spirits, one vessel.</p><p>In the time between the Plegian War and the Valmese Invasion, Robin decides to attempt to learn healing magic. However, those of fell blood mustn't play with magic of Naga...</p>
            </blockquote>





	55. Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> I went ahead and tagged it for canon divergence since Robin can, in canon, use staves :> Anyways since I always marry her to Chrom, I imagine she and Lissa are good friends.
> 
> Ahhhh I was going to say more about this but I have nothing? lol have my grima!robin angst bye thanks for reading r&r

The library was fairly quiet that morning, save for the soft _thud_ of tomes placed on the desk and the whisper of pages between Lissa's fingers. _This was Emm's study,_ she had explained, and remained abnormally silent afterward. Perhaps she was too busy with finding the materials to teach Robin healing magic, but the tactician wondered if this was the first time Lissa had returned to her sister's quarters in the two years following her death.  

While the princess worked, Robin's eyes wandered the room, noting the careful neatness of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that lined the walls. She didn't know Emmeryn well, but comparing this to Chrom's study (not much to his personal library besides a handful of rarely-touched books tossed on his desk), she gathered a little more of what her late sister-in-law was like. It was Emmeryn, actually, that sparked Robin's interest in learning staves. The former exalt's wish was for a healing of Ylisse and Plegia, and now that Robin held the title of queen, the practice of curative magic seemed symbolically appropriate. These were her people now, as they were Emmeryn's. The least she could do, even as an outsider, was aid their convalescence.  

Lissa stopped turning pages, apparently having found the training spells she sought. Finally, she spoke. "So what actually makes you want to take up white magic?" She paused, then added with a grin, "Is this because of the baby?" 

Robin's hand fluttered from its place on the tabletop to rest on her stomach. There was _that,_ too – a motherly instinct, perhaps, that motivated her to take some of her devastating magical ability and use it to heal instead of destroy. She smiled. "Partially, yes. And... I felt it would be right, I suppose. Chrom told me how the women of House Ylisse are known for being talented clerics." 

"And you _are_ one of us now." Lissa laughed and turned the open book to face Robin. "You see this spell? _Vulnus sanitatem?_ You'll need to memorize it; I know you know, but healers don't carry tomes for their incantations. The magic is channeled through the staff." She gestured to the slender gold rod resting beside them on the desk. "You just give it your power, tell it what to do, and presto! You're healed." 

"That's an adorable way to put it," Robin said as she picked up the staff. It felt peculiar in her hand, as if... no, magic was magic, and magic wasn't rejecting her. She was just unfamiliar with staves. The uncomfortable feeling, the slight itchiness crawling from her hand, up her arm... it was temporary, nothing to fret over. "But just what am I to practice healing on?" 

Lissa smirked. "Me. That's what we had to do when we were in training, Emm and me." Before Robin could object, Lissa pulled a small knife from her apron, rolled up her sleeve, and gave herself an inch long cut across her forearm. 

 _It's a small laceration, but... she really does trust me._  

"Go on now. Heal me up!" 

Robin took a deep, steadying breath and held the mystic, cloudy-blue end of the staff over Lissa's forearm. _Vulnus sanitatem. Vulnus sanitatem._ She closed her eyes and focused on the spell, ignoring the odd itch that clawed at her from under her skin. _"Vulnus sanitatem,"_ she said aloud.  

She didn't know what to expect. 

Never before had Robin used magic to heal others, but she had been healed by her comrades numerous times. She imagined healing might feel similar to being healed; a slow, reassuring warmth that swaddled the body, as opposed to the bright, burning fire she felt when casting anima magic. 

There was nothing remotely warm about this. 

Blistering cold steel sliced through Robin with a painful scream as darkness overwhelmed her, all in an instant. The library was no more, she was no more, trapped in nowhere. She attempted to open her eyes, but they were sealed shut. All she could do was feel – feel the staff tumble from her fingers, feel the eerily familiar voice echo from within her.  

 _Fool._  

Where did it come from? A hex? A curse? 

 _Those of fell blood_ _mustn't_ _play with magic of Naga._  

Get out. 

 _Return to your father. Quit playing your game of ignorance._  

Get out get out GET OUT. 

Instinctively, Robin curled around her stomach as she felt herself being pulled to the floor. Pain stabbed at her head as if a thousand of the sharpest daggers stuck at once, and she realized she had felt it before, two years ago. She caught a flash of the vision she had that day - the grim sorcerer and the floating body in the pitch dark room, frigid and empty and evil, calling to her... 

 _Why not make this easier?_  

She wrapped her arms tighter around her middle. _The baby, not the baby._  

 _Disgusting spawn, sired of Naga's servants,_ it spat. _I have no use for her._  

Robin heard a muffled shriek, footsteps, words... 

 _I want you, alone._  

Groggily, she opened her eyes. 

Lissa hung over her, sweat beading on her brow and her golden hair falling over Robin, a restore staff clutched shakily in her hands. "Robin! Robin, are you alright?" she squeaked, blue eyes wide and worried. 

"I'm... I'm fine, just a sudden migraine," Robin managed, though "fine" was hardly appropriate for explaining how she wished she had a sick-pail at the moment. She groaned as she pulled herself up to a sitting position, gradually regaining her sense of balance. "What happened?" 

"You... did everything right, but – I don't know why – when you used the staff, there was this, this crazy flash and you dropped it like it was on fire, and then you... passed out." 

"Are you...?" Robin began, then noticed the bright red blood dripping down Lissa's arm. The wound had not healed – it _worsened,_ the gash stretching across her skin as if she'd been caught on the wrong end of a sword. Robin felt the blood drain from her face. "Gods, Lissa, your arm!" 

She glanced at the trail of crimson seeping from her arm, messing her dress and the rug beneath. "When the magic backfired..." 

"We need to patch it up right now. Don't use up your energy trying to heal it yourself – you'll hurt yourself worse." She shook off her fainting spell and arose, making quick work of rummaging through the desk they used for the lesson – judging by the kind of person Emmeryn was, surely... 

There. In a top drawer, a first-aid kit, even in the study.  

Robin immediately dropped to where Lissa still sat on the floor, roll of bandages in hand. "I'm so, so sorry, Lissa..." she breathed, absorbed in wrapping the cloth around her wounded arm. "This is all my fault – I should have known my limits." 

"Robin, it was an _accident._ It happens," the princess reassured as her friend tied off the wrap. "It's not your fault. I've seen worse wounds, after all." 

"Still..." It bothered her, that she hurt her sister and had no clue as to how or why, only that she was clearly incompatible with the healing arts. But incompatibility didn't explain the voice... 

"'Still' nothing. Just... how should I explain my injury? I mean, _I_ know what happened, but I wouldn't want to raise suspicion, you know?" 

"You don't have to lie for my sake. When you see a healer, just explain that we had a slight... accident in our magic practice. Nothing out of the ordinary if they've tended to Chrom for twenty years." 

But it was out of the ordinary. Robin tried not to think about them, but the migraines, the visions, the voices... She was glad she fainted when she tore Lissa's arm, because she was sure that if she saw her face, it would be the same one that haunted her dreams from night to night. 

Her brother's face. Chrom's face. 

Chrom, dying , arguing that it wasn't her fault... what she did to him in the dream, had she done to Lissa in real life? 

Robin shuddered. 

What was _wrong_ with her? 

She felt Lissa's uninjured hand gingerly grasp her shoulder. "Robin? Are you sure you're alright?" She asked carefully. "You should come with me to the healer." 

It was a bit of a strain, but she smiled. "Just worried. I'll be quite alright – hurry on to the cleric's quarters, and I'll check on you after I straighten this mess." 

"Okay. Just remember, Robin – _you have nothing to worry about_." And with her usual sunshine-smile and blithe gait, Lissa left the study. 

 _Nothing to worry about._  

Robin stood and found a water tome on one of the grand, oak bookcases lining the office. After pulling it from its place, she sat cross-legged before the spot on the rug where Lissa's blood dripped, muttered the incantation, and summoned forth her water. A non-combative spell, it hovered in the air – Robin was careful to generate no more than a cup – until she guided it down to the stain and began scrubbing with her sleeve. 

 _Nothing to worry about._  

As much as Robin trusted Lissa, she couldn't help but feel she was wrong about that.


End file.
